Agronomist Notes

I soil sampled for a client near Okotoks on Saturday and the soil is the driest I’ve seen it in eight years. I would estimate that soils in my territory have only 1 inch of stored soil moisture, perhaps 1.5 inches at best. That’s about 2 bu/ac of canola, 3 bu/ac of wheat and 4 bu/ac of barley to start the season. Reducing soil disturbance by eliminating unnecessary heavy harrowing and reducing seeding speed is paramount to successful crop establishment. There’s no room for error in dry conditions and counting on rain after seeding is a big gamble.  

I drove up to Medstead, SK, north of the Battlefords, to do a presentation at a Cavalier Agrow grand opening. I had plenty of fun with some great conversations about controlled traffic, inter-row seeding and row loading techniques. I thought our growing season was short but how does 85 days grab you?

In this week’s issue of Beyond Agronomy News, we’ll begin with my opinion and experience with spring heavy harrowing. Next, we’ll take a look at my favorite post-seed herbicide strategy. With the talk of dry soils and seeding deeper this year, I’ll provide some info to guide you. Last, we’ll discuss seeding speed and what it costs you to continue the bad habit of seeding too fast. We’ll end with technical and fundamental grain market news.

Agronomy

Thinking of heavy harrowing this spring? Don’t!

I’ve seen a few producers dragging around their heavy harrows this spring and I wonder if they know how many wild oats they’re germinating. In the spring of 2009, I had a field that was heavy harrowed after a seeding mishap. Having managed the field for four years, I knew where the three small patches of wild oats were. When I returned a few weeks later to do my weed scouting, I was shocked to find the entire field polluted with wild oats. With the swift pass of the harrows, the 8 acre problem ballooned to a 150 acre nightmare. We had to spray twice for wild oats because the population density was too heavy for just a single application. What a lesson that was!

Research from the University of Manitoba found similar results in increased wild oat populations after the use of a rotary harrow in the spring. Wild oat populations increased 100 to 300% when comparing no soil disturbance to spring rotary harrowing. If your goal is to germinate wild oats prior to seeding so you can hit them with a pre-burn herbicide, then that’s great. If you’re not, heavy harrowing will only serve to trigger wild oat germination and rob you of moisture, nutrients and yield. Think twice before harrowing this spring. It better be worth it! SL

Source: http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/naturalagriculture/weed/files/longterm/seedbank_e.htm

Post-seed herbicide spray options

With the lack of moisture and planting time quickly approaching, producers are looking for options to control weeds post-seeding. With very little weed growth in some fields, a pre-seed herbicide application is hard to justify. That said, I urge you to check your fields and don’t assume that weeds aren’t growing because it’s dry. Weeds like winter cleavers, flixweed, dandelion and hawk’s beard that germinated last fall may be lurking.

I would say that 90% of the time a pre-seed herbicide application is your best strategy. However, if you’ve checked your fields and you can’t justify a pre-seed herbicide, a post-seed application with Express SG can work well as a rescue operation.

To give you an example, in the spring of 2009 I had a field that didn’t get a pre-seed burn down and I was left with some pretty big weeds to control in wheat at the one-leaf stage. Express SG had a great effect on stinkweed, buckwheat, Canada thistle and hawk’s beard, as seen here. It was also exceptionally good on flixweed up to 4-inches tall. Now, you’re no money ahead over a pre-seed burn down as this option will cost you roughly $4.50/ac but at least you have options.

If you are thinking about a seed now, spray later program and the crop emerges in the meantime, my favorite herbicide option is Express SG with 2L/1000L of a non-ionic surfactant like AgSurf or Agral 90. Express SG is safe on the crop and good on hawk’s beard, small dandelion, flixweed, stinkweed, RoundUp Ready canola and wild buckwheat. The greatest risk of a post-seed herbicide application using a Group 2 like Express SG is a one-inch rainfall after application that washes the herbicide into the furrow. This can cause yellowing and reduced maturity- part of the gamble you take in post-seed weed control. SL

Seeding into moisture: How deep is too deep?

With the potential for dry soils this spring, many producers are probably thinking of seeding a little deeper than normal to find a moist seed bed. However, deep seeding can reduce germination, emergence, seedling vigor and lead to increased disease levels. I agree that seeding into dry soil and waiting for rain is not a great strategy but how deep is too deep and for which crops? How deep can one safely plant a seed without any negative effects? Here are some tips to help you decide:

• Never seed any cereal deeper than three inches. I know that’s obvious, but you never know who could be thinking about it.
• Ideally, wheat and barley should be seeded no deeper than 2 inches. Planting deeper than 2 inches will weaken plants and leave them susceptible to seedling diseases. 
• Barley is more sensitive to deep seeding than wheat or oats.
• Seeding barley at 2, 3 and 4-inch depths decreased emergence by 20% and decreased grain yield by 10% for each increase in seeding depth.
• The severity of common root rot in barley can increase by 40% when seeding deeper than 2 inches.
• I remember a Seebe barley crop seeded at 3 inches being a very, very bad, thin and spindly stand with a ridiculously low yield.
• ’ve seen AC Harvest wheat planted at 3 inches yield 52 bu/ac, which was 20% lower than the average.
• Do not seed canola deeper than 1 inch. Any deeper is futile!
• Peas can be seed down to 3 inches but comfortably in the 1 to 3 inch range.
• Don’t skimp on the seed treatment if you plan on seeding deep. Seeding disease severity in any crop increases with seeding depth, especially under cold, dry soils.  

Source: http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/crop4690

Slowing down to seed canola pays big

(I wrote on this topic last fall but because I like the lesson so much and seeding is right around the corner, I wanted to share it again with our new readers.)

Each year I manage 7,000 to 8,000 acres of canola across my territory. One of the most challenging years for canola growers was 2009 given the heavy residue levels, cool, dry conditions prior to and following seeding. In fact, most the canola fields looked downright ugly until late July, except for one farm. What was the difference, you ask? Was it the JD 1830 hoe drill with 4 inch low draft Gen openers? Did they have perfect rain after seeding? No. They seeded their canola at 3.8 to 4 mph in every field. I know most of you are thinking, ‘Good heavens, Steve, you come sit in this tractor and drive 3.8 mph all day long!’

 

Speed kills, especially when it comes to planting canola. The picture above shows a 460 acre canola field with rolling, hilly topography that has just finished bloom. Right from the start, this field emerged uniformly, looked excellent all season long and finished blooming all at once. The biggest difference was that it was seeded at 3.8 to 4 mph while most are usually seeded at 4.8 to 5.5 mph. That's just one mile an hour slower and look at the great results. By contrast, the picture below is a canola field just four miles away that is finishing bloom in some areas

and just starting in others. I love the blooming canola in the wheel tracks. Uneven maturity is costing growers thousands in yield reductions. Let's run the numbers.

Steve's quick math

Example: A 160 acre canola field with 20% finishing bloom 10 days later with an average yield of 30 bu/ac. Canola is $9 a bushel.
160 acres × 20% = 32 acres effected
30 bu/ac × 50 lbs/bu = 1,500 lbs/ac of canola
1,500 lbs × 30% reduction in seed size due to early swathing = 450 lbs/ac
450 lbs/ac ÷ 50 lbs/bu = 9 bu/ac
9 bu/ac × 32 acres effected = 288 bu
288 bu × $9.00 = $2,592 total loss or $16.20/ac

So, with just a 30% reduction in seed size on 20% of the field that matured 10 days later, we lost a total of $16.20 an acre across the entire field. If you seed 500 to 1,500 acres of canola, you're looking at a loss of $8,000 to $24,000 each year. Sound significant? You might think twice about speeding through seeding this year.

Market News

Commodity Fundamentals

Technical Analysis

Canola: May futures. The short term trend is down and the long term trend is down. Further lows possible.
HRS Wheat: May futures. The long term trend is down and the short term trend is up.
Corn: May futures. The short and the long term trends are down.
Soybeans: May futures. The long and short term trends are up.
Canadian Dollar: March futures. Long and short term trends are up. Possible short term down turn this week.
US Dollar Index: June futures. The short and long term trends are down. 
Crude Oil: April futures. Long and short term trends are up.